India harming Pakistan’s hydel, agriculture projects: Khawaja Asif

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday criticised India for incessantly violating the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, saying the country has stopped abiding by the treaty.

Addressing a ceremony at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Asif said India constructed various projects in violation of the treaty and did not provide their designs to Pakistan.

The foreign minister said that the country has been harming Pakistan’s hydel and agricultural projects.

Asif termed the issue of the Indus Waters Treaty an important one between the two countries.

He said Pakistan abides by treaty and asked India to do the same.

“It is in the interest of both India and Pakistan [to honour the treaty],” said Asif.

Pakistan and India share the waters of Indus River Basin which has been a major source of contention between the two states since independence.

In order to resolve the disputes, both countries signed the treaty in 1960 with the help of World Bank which has survived over five decades of hostilities between the two states.

However, due to the recent indigenous upsurge in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), water has once again become a divisive issue.

Indian statement of “blood and water cannot flow together” and the threat of unilaterally abrogating the treaty has resulted into a new wave of hydro politics around Pakistan and brought the treaty under stress.